Who is the top-scoring Argentinian in Europe’s big leagues so far this season? It’s not Mauro Icardi, Gonzalo Higuaín, Lionel Messi or Sergio Agüero. That illustrious quartet are looking up at Emiliano Sala, a lanky 28-year-old striker who has never played for the national team. Sala scored a brace against hapless Guingamp this weekend to take his tally for the season into double figures, which is all the more remarkable given that Nantes have already sacked and replaced a manager this season.

When the season kicked off, Miguel Cardoso was in charge and Sala was not in his plans. The striker was nearly shipped to Galatasaray on the last day of the transfer window – a move the player was reportedly keen on – with Kalifa Coulibaly preferred in attack. Two goals from the bench in Nantes’ first three matches offered a solid rebuttal from Sala, who had scored a dozen league goals (no mean feat under previous managers Claudio Ranieri and René Girard) in each of his previous campaigns, but surely felt marginalised by the arrival of Majeed Waris along with an attacking philosophy that implied a lone striker. Sala’s goals were not enough to save Cardoso, who was replaced last month by the veteran manager Vahid Halilhodzic.

Who is the top-scoring Argentinian in Europe’s big leagues so far this season? It’s not Mauro Icardi, Gonzalo Higuaín, Lionel Messi or Sergio Agüero. That illustrious quartet are looking up at Emiliano Sala, a lanky 28-year-old striker who has never played for the national team. Sala scored a brace against hapless Guingamp this weekend to take his tally for the season into double figures, which is all the more remarkable given that Nantes have already sacked and replaced a manager this season.

When the season kicked off, Miguel Cardoso was in charge and Sala was not in his plans. The striker was nearly shipped to Galatasaray on the last day of the transfer window – a move the player was reportedly keen on – with Kalifa Coulibaly preferred in attack. Two goals from the bench in Nantes’ first three matches offered a solid rebuttal from Sala, who had scored a dozen league goals (no mean feat under previous managers Claudio Ranieri and René Girard) in each of his previous campaigns, but surely felt marginalised by the arrival of Majeed Waris along with an attacking philosophy that implied a lone striker. Sala’s goals were not enough to save Cardoso, who was replaced last month by the veteran manager Vahid Halilhodzic.